06 December 2011

Had fun doing

an Issues Etc. show today on St. Ambrose of Milan, whose feast day is tomorrow. (Here's a pic - showing off my vibrams!) Tomorrow night's service will commemorate St. Ambrose as one of the heralds of Christ.

9 comments:

I would have thought you would have done the show for St. John Damascene (I know he's a favorite of yours). I think the guy they did get for the show on St. John did him an awful disservice, essentially calling him an idolater because of his defense of icons.

Surely not?! I'll have to give a listen. I DO love St. John, and I must confess that I am eager to get my hands on his *Fount of Wisdom* that Treasury insists was his greatest work. His Orthodox Faith is great, but his poetry/hymnody is greater:

Pastor Weedon, As you know, St. Nicholas is called the "Wonderworker" because of the miracles he performed. What do you think about that? Overambitious story telling or a Saint performing miracles like, for example, St. Peter?

I certainly believe in wonder-working saints. But I've always found it an odd title to attribute to Nicholas. I note that Hopko says in Winter Pascha: "The extraordinary thing about the image of St. Nicholas in the Church is that he's not known for anything extraordinary." He says he's not known for being a theologian, an ascetic, a mystic, a prophet. He was just good - divinely good.

I'd appreciate you picking up on Chris' point. I listened to the Issues Etc. show as well, and was distressed to hear Chemnitz et al's view of John of Damascus. What John teaches is nothing other than what the 7th ecumenical council approved, and was universally endorsed and practiced. How does this fit with the "We have received nothing new in doctrine or practice..." in the Augustana?

Not wanting to be confrontational, but just to see how you process this issue.

I will have to give a listen to the show - but it's not going to be possible for a bit. I just don't have the leisure at the moment. You know, though, the Frankish tradition out of which Chemnitz was operating and how the argument of John was perhaps misheard in the reading: venerate as WORSHIP. When it is read as HONOR, I think most of the difficulty simply shows itself to be no difficulty at all. We honor the Cross with a reverent bow when it passes; we honor the Lectionary by kissing it, same with the altar. But that's about as much an answer as I can give at this moment - getting ready to head out with Cin for a Dr's appt. Hope all is well with you.